SURPRISE, Ariz. — One morning last fall, in the days following another long baseball season, Mike Jirschele reported to work at D. Mitchell Interiors in Clintonville, Wis. He strolled through the door, greeted old friends, and found his work space amid the scuffed dressers and damaged bedroom sets in the basement. In a moment, he located his tools and began another job.

And here is where you might have your first question: Why?

Why does Jirschele, the Royals’ third-base coach, still spend his winters working a salaried position in a furniture store on Main Street in his small Wisconsin hometown? Why does he show up five days a week, repairing broken furniture and touching up pieces and attaching handles just so? Why does he spend more than eight months a year putting in 80-hour weeks as a major-league coach, organizing the Royals’ infield defense and criss-crossing the country with the club, then spend the offseason at his other job?